Engine-radiator



C. DE W. WAGNER.

ENGINE RADIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 7. 1919.

Patented June 14,1921.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLIFTON DE WITT WAGNER, 0F CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

- ENeiNE-nisnmron.

Application filed April 7,

To all whom it may concern.

- objects have been kept in view:

First, to produce a radiator, the core of which will not break or burst by freezing, whether once, or an indefinite number of times.

Second, to simplify and expedlte the repairing of radiators, by making the core of the radiator accessible. The function of the core is to radiate heat rapidly, and of necessity it must be made of light material, which is always subject to injury, and must of course deteriorate with age. The radi-- ator being an expensive part of a motor vehicle, and its material being mainly non-corrosive, it should be made to do duty for many years, without extravagant costs of repairing.

Third, to produce a radiator that may be sold at a reasonable price.

The nature of the invention is fully disclosed in the description and claims follow ing, reference being had to the accompany drawing, in which 1n Figure -1 is a front elevation of an automobile radiator, shown conventionally, {a part of the front being broken away to' show the core structure within. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in perspective, showing details of a radiator core, various styles of form-preserving tubes being illustrated in the same core, though it. is to be understood they would not be generally so used. Fig. 3 shows in perspective details of a. quickly detachable front. and back. Fig. t shows similarly a front and back construc-' tion which admits of easy removal of the front and back, but less so than that shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5, is an end view of one of the core tubes and part of another, connected by bracing and spacingplates as used in the Be it known that I, CLINTON DE WITT tic material, preferably Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 14, 1921.

1919. Serial No. 288,071.

tion.

preferred style of core construc- In the drawing, the numeral 1 denotes the upper, and 2 the lower water-tanks of a radiator. These are slotted at 3tand 4, respectively to receive the'upper and lower ends, respectively, of a series of thin and wide tubes, which, for distinction are numbered 5 and 6. In practice these tubes are preferably made of thin brass 'or copper folded on itself with an overlapping, sol-' dered seam 8 at the back of the radiator. Provision is made for holding the walls of the tube normally parallel, or substantially so, and for bringing to bear on a side wall -a pressure tending to force the wall in wardly Such-"a tube, when frozen, will expand in thickness, and contract veryslightly edgewi'se. tube will at once resume its normal position.

Taking for example the preferred form of tube, 5, the sheet of soft brass or copper, before folding at the edges, is corrugated at 10 for a threefold purpose: It forms a groove to receive a longitudinal stiffening When thawed out the wire 11; it is in itself a stiffener; and it forms an abutment at the inside of the tube to hold its walls in propernormal position, practically parallel." In practice, a pair of these corrugations and stiffening wires is preferred instead of a single one, .as indicated above; The-beads or corrugations do notincrease the resistance of the tube walls against expansion, but do stiffen it endwise, so thatv pressure from within, brought to bear at any point, is transmitted for a considerable distance each way therefrom longitudinally. This effect is of course enhanced by the, use of the 'wires, which may be practically straight when laidin the g-roovesjwhere they are securely attached by soldering. Over'these wires, at

intervals alongthe length of the tube, are Q secured clips 12, formed ofsomewhat. elaswhat is commonly known as' half hard brass. This usually comes in rolled strips of suitable width, and the cut. lengths are g ven reverse bends 13, at the. ends to"'overli'e' the edges of the tube,; as clearly "shown in Fig. 5, the bend at the front edge being preferably a hook, so as to dispense with solder, though at the opposite end the clip is securely soldered to the tube. It is evident that the natural bulge of the clip will,

thus tend to press inwardly on the underlying wall of the tube, and so hold it in proper position. If now the water in the tube should be frozen, the tube would of course be bulged outwardly a little, but as soon aS the ice thawed the tube would automatically return to normal position, so that any number of freezings and thawings would not change its proper form. i The same is true of a bulging caused by steam in the radiator due to a stoppage in the overflow pipe and a tight nozzle cap, though the expansion in such a case is more apt to effect the upper water tank than the core tubes.

It is to be understood that I do not regard the stiffening wires as absolutelyindispensable and have shown tubes 6 without such wires. I consider the wires a useful ad.- junct, however, as above noted.

The tubes are securely soldered in the slots of the upper and lower water-tanks, but this alone would leave the radiator core as a whole inadequately stiffened and braced. Accordingly the tubes are set in alternately 1 reversed position, with clipped walls and lane Walls facing each other, respectively.

he plane walls of adjoining tubes are se-' curely tied together with angled strips of perforated sheet metal 14, soldered to such tubes, and serving to truss them and the whole radiator core, and render it rigid, es-

pecially against diagonal strains. The per forated strips permit the free passage of air through the radiator, and enlarge the radiating surface of the radiator core, as will be evident. Painted the same color as the radiator front they also serve for con. cealment of the brass tubes, which are preferably not painted. For thispurpose of screening the interior of the radiator, alter nate strips of perforated sheet metal 15 may be set between the elastic walls of. the tubes, but not attached to them, nor indeed touching them, except at oints 16, where the back edges are outturne a little, and stuck to the tubes with a drop of solder. To make the screen strips a little vielding, they should beU-shaped in cross-section, asindicated by the outline of the lower end in Fig. 2. Where this matter of concealment is not important the screen-strips may be dispensed with.

Improved fronts 17 and backs 18 are shown in Figs. 3 and 4:. In the latter, the

fronts and backs are simply beaded at 19 to receive the edges of the intervening tubes, which may be soldered directly to such front and back plates. In Fig. 3 is shown a construction of the front and back requiring no soldering of them tothe tubes. Inside the,

front and back plates are secured transverse bars 20, suita'bl notched at 21 to engage'the curved clip-en s, and through these pass of heavier material than the others. If a tube is leaking, the back is easily removed by melting the few points of attachment, if soldered to the-tubes, or by unbolting, if of the type shown in Fig. 3. Access is bad immediately to the leaking tube, and the repair is easily made. If the leak is at, the front side, the front is as easily and quickly removed, or, if the leak be at the side of the tube, the same may be repaired from. the back side. If from age and service the tube has become thin and rotten,-it is easily snip ped off at the top and bottom, the stub ends melted out of the tanks, and a new tube inserted. In this there is no mutilation of the front or back, and when replaced and repainted, if paint has been injured by heat, the radiator shows no injury whatever. Theremoval of a tube of course involves the removal of the angled stiffening strips, but" this is a very simple operation, either with a torch or a hot copper.

In this invention the tube, individually considered, is an element ofprimary' importance. Its leading characteristic is a tendencyto bulge or buckle inwardly and transversely. T 0 this is added means for holding the walls normally distended. Other means serve to transmit the buckle of the flexible wall-endwise of the tube'in approximate parallelism.

It is to be noted that thev inward buckle of the elastic wall is due to means forming'a component part of the tube, not wearing frictionally thereon, nor liable to disconnection therefrom, and with no possibility of rattle or vibration in the running of the vehicle to which the radiator is attached. In Fig-5 the dimensions of the parts are approximately the actualsize' as manufac tured, but for convenience of illustration the thickness of the metal indicated is greatly exaggerated.

A superadded feature, not inherent in the tubeitself, but designed to greatly strengthen it and prolong its life and efficiency, is the stifiening strip, giving rigidity to one side of the tube, and correspondingly to the whole radiator core.

Havlng'thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A radiator tube having wide, narrowly.

separated and practically parallel walls, and

elastic means embracing the edges of the tube, and tending to collapse the tube intermedlate its edges.

2. A radiator tube having wide, narrowly separated and practically parallel walls, and a series of springs embracing the edges of the tube, and tending to press its walls back to normal position when distended.

3. A radiator tube, having wide, narrowly separated walls, means disposed transversely of the tube to press a wall inwardly, and means disposed lengthwise of the same wall to stiffen it in that direction.

4. A radiator tube, having wide, substan tially parallel, and narrowly separated walls, means disposed crosswise of the tube to press itinwardly, and a stiffening bead formed lengthwise of said wall, and adapted to hold the walls properly separated.

5. A radiator tube, having wide, substantially parallel and narrowly separated walls, elastic means disposed crosswise of the tube and tending to press it inwardly, a longitudinal bead formed in said wall, and a stiffening wire set therein. C

6. In a'radiator, a pair of tubes, having wide, narrowly separated walls, perforated stifiening strips attached rigidly to the opposing walls of thepair, and means transversely disposed on the outer walls tending to press them inwardl and elastically.

7. In a radiator, t e combination of a.

series of wide, thin tubes, water-tanks connecting with their ends, means for pressing the opposing walls of a pair of said tubes inwardly, means to hold the walls properly separated, and perforated, stifl'ening strips connecting alternate pairs of said tubes to each other and to the tanks.

8,.In a radiator, the combination of a series of wide, thin tubes, water tanks connecting with their ends, elastic means tending to press inwardly the opposite walls of pairs of said tubes, perforated stifiening strips rigidly connecting alternate pairs, to render one wall of each tube rigid, and perforated, screen-strips disposed between the elastic walls of the tubes, and mainly separated a short distance therefrom.

9. In a radiator, the combination with upper and lower water-tanks, of wide, thin connecting tubes, provided with elastic, inwardly ressing spring clips overlapping the edges oi said tubes, bars groovedto fit said overlapping portion of clips, binding bolts therefor, and perforated front and back plates attached to said bars.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

oLINTort. DE WITT WAGNER.

Witnesses:

F. W. ARMSTRONG, J. M. ST. JOHN. l 

